Centuri Museum and History Video

On the National Association of Rocketry Facebook page, Jonathan Wilkins posted a video link  showing the Centuri Museum. The video is hosted by Lee Piester.
To see the video: CLICK HERE

I had heard there was a Centuri museum, but had not seen this video. Most of the items will go to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington.

Vashon Valkyrie II Build, Part 5, Prepping the Parts - Launcher

There were three dowel legs, 3/8" diameter x 8" long.
One leg was broken, the grain in that leg runs diagonally. It was probably broken when pressed into the tight base holes shown below. The fit was very tight.

This is a simple fix, some yellow glue, a clamp and sanding.

This is the round base, the top surface is on the left, the bottom view on the right.

In the center is the hole drilled for the 1/8" diameter launch rod.

The launcher base is friction fitted together, no glue needed.

It reminds me of the wood dowel launcher that Estes once produced for the Moon Mutt Starter Set.

Vashon Valkyrie II Build, Part 4, Parts

I have mentioned before, I found my three rocket binders when we were clearing out my Mom's house. All the instructions from every kit I built are there, including that first Vashon Valkyrie 2.

On the left are the instructions from the set I received from Doug Frost, on the right are my instructions. I had dated them July, 1969.

Apparently this was a different starter set distributed after July of 1969. Comparing the die-cut fin to my original instructions, the fin shape had changed.

On the left is the die-cut fin. On the right is the full size template from my original instruction sheet.
It's a swept parallelogram with clipped lower tip.

The die-cut fin reminds me a little of the Centuri Astro 1 fin shape.

Underneath is the die-cut fin so you can see the difference in the two shapes. The white paper fin was traced and cut from the older instruction sheet.

Three new fins were cut out of 1/16" stiff balsa. The Valkyrie 1 and 2 had 1/16" thick fins. While they seem thin, they feel very stiff when slid into the fin rails later on.

The box had four nose cones molded from stiff Styrofoam. The finished pieces were rough with a few dents.

My original Valkyrie had a balsa nose cone. I knew the Vashon body was 1" diameter. I tried a nose cone from an Odd'l Rockets Break-away kit - a perfect fit! Many Odd'l kits use heavy wall tubing, the wider n.c. shoulder works with the heavy Kraft tube in the Vashon model. On the right is the balsa cone in the printed Kraft tube.
The original kit had an aluminum parachute tube. I will try to simulate the aluminum tube if I can't find one.

Vashon Valkyrie II Build, Part 3, Parts

My original 1969 Vashon starter set included a shiny chrome Mylar parachute. This box included a shiny one and this orange and blue printed parachute.
The color chute was 11 3/4" wide from flat to flat. There are eight shroud line attachment points.

"Extra light, extra strong MYLAR Parachute.
The Echo Satellite material."

You could launch the Vashon models by pulling a pin and releasing the plug in the nozzle.
You could also launch it using the "Ignitor Wire". Look close, the wire is sitting on the instruction card. The wire held the plug in place after the pin was carefully slid out. Count down - Touch the other end of the plug leads to a battery. The wire melts and the plug is blown out of the nozzle.

The inset picture shows some timer disks. The disks were placed into the separator segment. More disks, the longer the delay before the parachute tube is released.
That thing that looks like a raisin was a rubber bulb that held contact cement. Cut off the end and squeeze out the glue. Contact cement was used to glue on the launch lug and fin rails to the roughed up aluminum body. Originally these were red, there were two in the kit.

Two fin sheets were included. One sheet was die-cut, the second was screen printed like the some Centuri fin sheets.
It looks like the original owner cut out some fins, not exactly on the printed lines!

Vashon Valkyrie II Build, Part 2, Parts

As I mentioned earlier, there was plenty of extra parts. The picture above shows what parts may have come in the original #802, Valkyrie 2 starter set. There was no Freon (liquid propellant) in the box.

The parts were in very good shape. I've seen these models on Ebay where the builder has roughed up the metal body to attach the fin rails.

The only missing part was the timer/separator segment. The 1" long part had a gripper "spring" that held the parachute tube in place once the lower tank was pressurized. Does anyone have a spare Vashon Separator? If I can't find one, I'll use a 1" long aluminum tube to simulate it.

I'll get into more detail on the parts in the next few posts.

Vashon Valkyrie II Build, Part 1, Opening The Box

There were several variations on the Vashon boxes.
The Valkyrie 2 came in a long box.
My Sears box had a full color overlay. This "801" package is printed in black.

On the right side is a fold of cardboard. The propellant can would have been under it. No RP-100 (Freon) was in the box.

This is unusual. This box holds more than a single starter kit would contain. The original owner may have purchased some spare parts.

There are two V2 (longer) lower bodies that would hold the Freon propellant. White plastic nozzles are friction fit on the low end.
Four Kraft paper style parachute tubes and four hard Styrofoam nose cones are included.
Two 1/4 mil parachutes, one in shiny Mylar, the other a blue and orange print.
Two different fin sheets, printed 1/16" thick balsa. Half of one sheet has been cut out, the fins are missing.
Plenty of fin rails and a length of launch lug. A bag of vent pins and separator timer disks.
A tripod launcher base. This one is round, my original was an interlocking cruciform shape.
There are no separator (parachute timer release) sections. Not a problem, I might be able to pick one up on Ebay.

Vashon Valkyrie II Background

Anyone who has followed the blog knows I've been trying to find a Vashon Valkyrie 2 rocket. I've given up on a few Ebay bids when the price got too high.

It was one of the first rockets I ever owned. I ordered it through the Sears 1969 Christmas catalog. I thought I paid $19.99, but this catalog page shows it selling for $14.99.
Enlarge the exploded parts picture - note the fin grain is going the wrong direction.


I first saw a Vashon catalog (shown at right) at a friends house in 1969.
To see that catalog: CLICK HERE
We had both built a few Estes rockets, but couldn't get black powder engines in California. Cold Power, Freon propelled rockets were our only choice to get airborne.

These were impressive models. They were larger than the Estes Sky Hook sized models we could afford at the time. The Vashon rockets were metal. Shiny aluminum!

At the recent NARAM I met up again with Doug Frost. In the late 1970s, Doug headed the BAYNAR section near San Jose, California. I participated in many of the club launches.
Doug emailed me and asked if I wanted to share a room to save some money. The host hotel would have run me $1,100 for the week, I welcomed the savings and the chance to catch up with Doug.

We talked about the models we wish we still had. I mentioned the Vashon Valkyrie 2.
Doug said: "I've got one, would you like it?"
It arrived in the mail a few days back. I'll be building it to look like the catalog cover.